Well, good morning. We are going to get started this morning and continue with the study that we began last week. And I want to just at the outset turn our attention once again to a passage that just is so foundational to our approach to the topic of death. and why we should think about death and that's Hebrews 9 and verse 27. But today I'm going to read a little bit of the bigger context of it just so that we grasp maybe a little bit more of what's being said and then today I want us to talk about where is thy sting about death? Alright and what I mean by that is how we avoid death in our culture or thinking about it. So Hebrews 9 and I am going to begin reading in verse 23. Hebrews 9 and 23. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are the copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now once, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." Let's pray and we'll think about this together. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And Lord, we thank you that your word pushes us to think about things that maybe are forgotten or deliberately avoided in our culture. So today, help us to understand a little bit more about why we as a culture and how we as a culture avoid the topic of death. and how we as Christians ought to be wise in thinking about it, contrary to the way that our culture goes. And so we entrust ourselves to you and ask that you would be at work in this time in our hearts, for Jesus' sake. Amen. In this book, Remember Death, which I mentioned last week, and which is really the, I'm following the basic format of this for the next several weeks, McCullough quotes Blaise Pascal, and this is the quote that he gives from Blaise Pascal. Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of others. Those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each other with grief and despair await their turn. This is an image of the human condition." That sounds pretty dark and bleak, doesn't it? McCullough continues in his book, he says, that's dark, isn't it? Try for a moment to imagine yourself in Pascal's nightmare. You are one of a line of prisoners condemned to die by firing squad one at a time. You hear the captain's call. Ready. Aim. Fire. You hear the sound of the shots. You hear a body fall to the ground. Then you hear it all over again, only this time a little closer. One by one, the others before you in line are killed, and you know in every one of their deaths, your own is foreshadowed. You are implicated in what is happening to them. Each death implies your own. That's the reality of the human condition. No matter how we try to bury it or deny it, every time we hear about death, hear about someone passing away, that death is a reminder to us that we too will one day die. So, there are people in our society that do live with a constant ongoing awareness of death. I think about people perhaps on deployment in the military in a very dangerous area. They are likely to consciously think about the reality of death. Someone perhaps that is in, that is one of the first responders, they would often perhaps think about death because it's so much a part of their life. However, Most people in our society do not think about death. So it may be helpful for us to consider why have we, as a culture, stopped thinking about death? Why have we, as a culture, stopped paying attention to death by either denying or diminishing it in our culture? McCullough suggests four ways in which we deny death in our culture. The first way that we deny or diminish death in our culture is this, where we die now. In days gone by, people generally died at home. It's a very big difference from where we are at today. When people died at home, Others, family members, or even neighbors, were often there to witness death. You think about the history of humanity, even in our Western culture. And even in many places today, death happens at home. But now, in our Western culture, it's not that way anymore, but it once was. Now, when people approach that day, They go now to sanitized, professionalized institutions, and death in a way that is dislocated from the day-to-day life. We can live most of our lives without an up, close, and personal encounter with death. Most of us can do that. One of the reasons is because of where we die now. In McCullough's book, he mentions, imagine, for example, you lived in Andover, Massachusetts during the late 1600s. The average married couple in those years would give birth to roughly nine children. But three of the nine children would die before they were 21 years old. That is one of three on average. For some families, the reality was far worse. Take the family of New England minister Cotton Mather, one of the most prominent citizens of his time. Mather was the father of 14 children. Seven of his children died as infants soon after they were born. Another adult child died at two years old. Of the six children who survived into adulthood, five died in their 20s. Only one child outlived his father. Mathur enjoyed all the medical advantages available to anyone in his time. He could afford the finest care that money could buy, and he buried 13 of his children. Today, that's not the case. Life expectancies drive things later and later into life, and when death occurs, it's removed from society, usually in some kind of a hospital or some sort of an institution, a medical institution, away from regular society. A second way that he suggests that we deny death in our culture is how we fight death. modern medicine has left us with an expectation of much longer life and even the idea that death can be pushed back almost indefinitely rather than accepting death we often fight against death as though we must overcome it even if it means destroying the quality of life that we have with the remaining time that we have you uh... You might think this is overstated, but I see more and more, I kind of like to watch documentaries and that sort of thing, I see more and more documentaries and even articles that almost speak of a quest for the fountain of life. How can we keep death from happening? And if what appears to be death happens, how can we revive? And of course you have people today that are having their entire bodies frozen or even just their heads frozen so that their brains can hopefully, in their thinking, one day be transplanted to someone else and they can be revived. And you think that this might be a fringe thing. It's a very expensive thing. But there is a massive waiting list of people who want to be there when they die. We fight against death in such a way that we sometimes forget that death is a part of life, that death is a reality, that death will happen. We almost fight against it as though, hey, maybe it won't happen. But death comes to us all. Third way, how we deny or diminish death in our culture is how we handle the dead in our culture. We often deny the reality of death in the way that we treat the dead body. Comfortable clothes, comfortable shoes, comfortable caskets are marketed for the dead. Some of you maybe have walked through that, and they offer you, oh, here's a very, very comfortable casket, and here are some very comfortable shoes that you can put on the deceased, and here are some very fine, comfortable clothes. Well, it doesn't much matter how comfortable the things are, because they're dead. We try to make the dead body as lifelike as possible. And if we attend a funeral where the dead body doesn't seem lifelike, we walk away almost feeling cheated or down, I should have done a better job. So often this points to a refusal to accept that the departure has happened and to deny that this really is death. This person really is dead. A fourth way is how we talk about death or don't. How we talk about death or don't. We have almost scrubbed death as a word and dead as a word out of our vocabulary and refuse to speak of it. It's not very often that we say someone died, right? We say they passed away, they were deceased, they left this life, they went to a better place. But that word, dead or death, we don't like to use it. I'm watching a documentary this week about the quest for immortality, and what happens after death, and what happens in death. Here's a guy that actually takes bodies of people who have donated their bodies for the sake of others, for, you know, I offer my kidneys or I offer whatever for transplant, but he never ever once said the dead. He would refer to the donors, those who are occupying the space, but he never actually spoke of the dead or the dead bodies. And it kind of seems almost rude today to use the term dead or death or died. In prior years, people young and old would speak of death. Now this is going to seem very morbid to you, but McCullough gives some examples here that you might find interesting about how things have changed. Once again, Cotton Mather, he returns to speak of Cotton Mather. He says, Cotton Mather suggested turning the mundane details of life into triggers to think on death. And he quotes from him, when we sit at our tables, let us think, I shall shortly myself be a morsel for the worms. When we rest in our lodgings, let us think, a cold grave will shortly be my bed. When we view our chests, where we put our treasures, let us think. A little black chest is that wherein I myself shortly may be locked up. He continues by saying, how do Mather's words land on you? Like nails on a chalkboard? Do they sound sick to you, perhaps even deranged? Before you lump in Mather's appeal with some sort of lunatic fringe, consider one more example. The New England Primer was a popular resource for educating children in the 18th century in their primary schools. One of its features helped students memorize the ABCs by matching each letter with a two-line rhyme and a picture inspired by the rhyme. For example, the L included a verse about the lion and the lamb. Z had a rhyme about Zacchaeus. So far, so good. These rhymes sound much like our own. A is for alligator, B is for ball, C is for cat, and so on. But among these general biblical characters was another common theme. The picture next to the letter T was a skeleton holding an hourglass in one hand and a reaper's scythe in the other hand. The verse Time cuts down all, both great and small. The letter X reinforced the message, picturing an elaborately dressed figure in some sort of funerary pyre with this rhyme. Xerxes the Great did die, and so must you and I. The letter Y was still more jarring. The picture featured another skeleton, but this one was holding an arrow pointed down at the body of a small child. Youth forward flips, death soonest nips. They were teaching their children to read by reminding them they would die. As one historian put it, the message to prepare to die came from so many sides that it was inescapable. But today, we almost refuse to think about death. And when we think about death, we think about it unrealistically. In times past, the contemplation of death was encouraged, a Christian contemplation of death. Who am I? What am I doing with the time that God has given me? What awaits me? Today, you might think, well, are we really avoiding death in our culture? After all, we have very, very violent video games. We have very violent movies. We have shows like The Walking Dead. How can we actually be avoiding death? One cultural analyst has written about what he calls the pornography of death. Let me explain what he means by that. In pornography, it is always unrealistic. It's not a realistic encounter. It's not about people that have a regular life and a regular body. It's all stylized, exaggerated, completely unrealistic, and wicked, by the way, unless you think I missed that point. And he said, we do the same thing with death. The deaths that we see, the deaths that we encounter in games, in movies, in shows, are so completely unrealistic, so completely removed from the normal experience of death, that it's like a pornography of death. In real death, you don't get killed in Call of Duty and then wait for three seconds until you revive to continue the deathmatch. In real death, you don't have a zombie that chases you down, right? In real death, you don't have some, generally speaking, the deaths that most of us will experience, you don't have some great conflict against evil forces and you're cut down in the midst of that. Death for most of us is very unlike that. So even when we think about death, we think about death in ways that actually removes the reality of death from us. So if we deny death in our culture by where we die now, how we fight death, how we handle the dead and how we talk about death or don't, Why are we avoiding the truth about death? Well, very quickly, we avoid the truth about death because it doesn't sit well with our culture's obsession with happiness. to think about the fact that you will die, and that probably before you die, you will begin to decline. Does not fit well with the idea of our culture, just go, enjoy life, do everything, act the fool, get drunk, party, whatever the case may be, do whatever makes you happy in that moment. Doesn't sit well. The contemplation of this life will end. What am I doing now with this life? It doesn't sit well with our obsession with happiness. Also, moving from that, the reality of death is often too horrible for us in our culture to think about. That is, there are intolerable implications of death. When we think about death, we realize that we cannot escape it. We can't escape death. It will happen. And when it happens, it separates us from every good thing in this life we might have or want to have. And the more that you think about death, the more horrible it appears. And that, by the way, actually is more pointed if you're not a believer. For the Christian, as I'll talk about in just a second, there is hope in death. But for the unbeliever, that's it. That's the end. There is no more. For the unbeliever, from their frame of reference, from their thinking, when I die, I lose everything. All the stuff I've longed for, all the stuff I've worked for, all the stuff I've played for, every good experience of life that I have and hope to have is gone. McCullough mentions a third reason about why we're avoiding the truth about death, and in this he implicates those of us as a whole who are Christians. Because we as Christians have capitulated to the silence about death. We don't like to think about death. We have been cowed into silence. I, when I was looking at death throughout the scriptures and how many times it occurs, I was amazed. And I was amazed partly because I would often hear these things like, well, this is the topic that's most spoken of in scripture. And someone will say something like, finances are the thing that's most spoken about in scripture. Or prophecy is the thing that's most spoken about in scripture. Or grace is the thing that's most spoken about in scripture. And I look at the data and I'm like, yeah, death absolutely just trumps all of those. It's not even close. Some ways in which we have capitulated to the silence. We seek medical miracles no less aggressively and desperately than anyone else. We seem to have forgotten what it means to die with dignity and to die as a Christian. that we would fight against it. It would be so desperate that it not happen to us, rather than realize, yeah, let's do what we can to enjoy life by God's grace that he has given us, but recognize that that day will come when we will die. And to accept that graciously. The statistics and the data suggest that Christians go into eternity kicking and screaming exactly the same way that unbelievers do. It can't happen. It must not happen. No, let me try the next, you know, crazy experimental procedure and then the other experimental procedure. I'm not saying that all of those things are bad, but it sometimes appears that our approach to death is no different than the world's approach to death. We also often pursue happiness on the same material terms as everyone else. We want stuff, just like people of the world around us. And the prospect of death coming jars us because we don't want to be separated from our stuff. And we often deny the pain of death, like everyone else, capitulating to softening terms about death and softening the reality about death. So we as Christians are too, be blamed for the way that we have responded to the topic of death or not responded. That we have capitulated to the silence. We as Christians ought to be the ones who speak the most clearly about the reality of death and about the hope that is found on the other side of death for those who trust in Christ. So let me have some concluding considerations before we end. First, and that's gonna be something I'll encourage us over and over again, let us think intentionally and accurately about death. Like let us intentionally think about death. Specifically our own. What are some ways that we can think about death? Let me run through these very quickly. First, we will all die as the Lord returns first. we will all die unless the Lord returns first. There's no use denying it and there's no use diminishing it. That will be the experience of every single one of us unless the Lord returns first. As it is appointed for men to die once after this judgment. But it's also helpful for us to remember that death is still terrible. Death is an enemy, it's an invader. When creation When God created this universe, death was not a part of it. By one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So then death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Death is still terrible. We think about the example of our Savior before the tomb of Lazarus. we're confronted with the horror of death. That death really is a horrible thing. And it doesn't do us any good to pretend like it isn't. Death is an invader. Death is not the way that God intended it. Not only is death terrible, but death is still an enemy. Death is described as an enemy. 1 Corinthians 15, 25 and 26, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Death is still an enemy. However, not only is death terrible and death an enemy, when we understand death properly as a Christian, we understand that death is gain. Death is not gain for its own sake. This is the way that death is gain. Paul speaks to the Philippians. He speaks of his earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor, yet what I shall choose I cannot tell, for I'm hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. How is death possibly gain? Well, it's not gain for its own sake. Death is gain because it brings us into the very presence of Christ. What can you possibly hope to gain by death? Christ. the immediate presence of Christ. And when Paul thought about the prospect of continuing to live and minister and dying and being with Christ, he actually said, yeah, choice two is better. Why? Because I'll be with Christ, which is far better. Properly thinking about death, And what death means for the Christian helps us to have the right perspective on this life. Death is better because it brings us to Christ. It's not just a little bit better, it's not just mildly to be preferred, it is far better. Far better than anything you have in this life. Far better. Far better than your stuff, far better than your friendships, far better than your family, far better than any other experience that you would have to be with Christ is far better. So, we will all die, death is terrible, death is an enemy, but for the Christian, death is gain, not for its own sake, but because it brings us into the very presence of Christ.